The national debate on health insurance has dominated the headlines ever since President Obama was elected and made health care reform one of his first mandates. Ignored in all this is the dental insurance crisis.
Over one hundred million Americans do not have dental insurance and the lack of coverage is leading to such problems as school absence, unemployment, and even death. Experts say that the most common disease among children is chronic dental decay.
Nationally it is estimated that over 51 million school hours are lost each year because of children with dental problems. It is frustrating because these problems and loss of productivity are completely preventable.
One third of the population of the United States does not have dental insurance. Its a catch 22 situation. The answer of course is to buy dental insurance and the main reason people do not have dental insurance is because they simply can't afford it.
Medicaid only provides dental insurance to low income families in only nine state's. Most dentists in those states refuse to accept it because the payouts are so unreasonably low. There is a dental crisis going on in this country and it is one of the many items that were overlooked during health care reform.